Two Rivers 8, Branch 14
July 6, 2009

TWO RIVERS — Branch plated eight of its 14 runs in the final three innings on Monday and moved to .500 on the season with a 14-8 Shoreland League victory over the Polar Bears in Two Rivers.
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The Blaze pounded out 16 hits against the host Polar Bears with Josh Lemke going 3-for-3 at the plate with three runs scored and a pair of RBI-singles in the third and seventh inning.

Paul Smith was 2-for-4 at the plate with three runs scored and four RBI. Smith rocked a two-run home run to right field in the third inning and drove in two more runs in the eighth with a two-RBI single to right.

Luke Kiel drove in four runs for the Blaze (8-8 overall, 6-4 in the Shoreland) as well while going 3-for-5 at the plate. Kiel had a two-RBI single in the seventh, an RBI-single in the eighth and drew a walk to bring in a run in the ninth.

The Polar Bears began to threaten in the bottom of the ninth inning when they scored four runs all with two outs but were unable to follow through.

Brian Schmidt drove in the first run followed by a walk to Jayme Henrickson to move Two Rivers within eight runs. Jeff Krueger's two-RBI single to left field moved the Polar Bears within six but a grounder to second by Jovanny Gonzalez gave the Blaze another win.

Lemke went seven innings on the mound for Branch to get the win. Lemke struck out nine, walked four and gave up four runs, three of which were earned, on three hits.

The loss on the mound went to the Polar Bears' Chris Bickel, who gave up nine runs, all earned, off 11 hits over six and a third innings. He struck out three and walked four.

Jessie Dickert led the Polar Bears' bats, going 2-for-5 with two runs scored. Henrickson drove in three runs for Two Rivers including two in the fourth on a double.

From the 7/7/09 edition of the Herald Times Reporter.